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User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 31 (Sub), 23 (Dub)
Episode 30 (Sub), 22 (Dub) | Table of Contents | Episode 32 (sub) Japanese title: “A Huge Pinch in Oogai City! The Birth of the Lovely Pad!” English title: “Darkness is Coming” If you remember episode 6 of the sub (part of which made up the latter half of episode 5 in the dub), you’ll remember that when the Jikochuu/Mercenares started taking over the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius, they turned a bunch of people into Jikochuu/Distains. The overload of monsters led to the kingdom falling very quickly. However, on Earth, they’ve only created about 1-2 Jikochuu/Distains at a time, which has led to them being defeated in every battle. It’s never explained why they don’t just do on Earth what they did in the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius and just create an entire army. Well, the answer to that question may be explained in this episode, because Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura are going to finally turn everyone in Oogai/Sea Shell Bay into monsters. At least, I hope the question can be answered. If there ends up being no reason why they didn’t just create a Jikochuu/Distain army on Earth in the first place, then these villains might just be the stupidest villains in the entire Pretty Cure franchise. As usual, the dubbed episode starts with an added recap narrated by Maya. DDPC31 01 added recap 1.png|Maya: "Maya here." DDPC31 02 added recap 2.png|Maya: "Well, the Glitter Force is stronger and more glitter-tastic than ever..." DDPC31 03 added recap 3.png DDPC31 04 added recap 4.png|Maya: "...thanks to our scoring a powerful and legendary new weapon, the Crystal Mirror!" DDPC31 05 added recap 5.png|Maya: "But that doesn't mean we're home free..." DDPC31 06 added recap 6.png|Maya: "because King Mercenare's goons are still out there..." DDPC31 07 added recap 7.png DDPC31 08 added recap 8.png DDPC31 09 added recap 9.png|Maya: "...and you just know they're getting ready to strike again!" DDPC31 10 added recap 10.png|Maya: "But we'll be ready!" Because Riva making a cartoony face while Glitter Clover kicks him in the chest is a great way to show how menacing the Mercenares are. The episode starts with us finally seeing Bel on screen again after all this time! With all of this emphasis on Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura, we haven’t gotten to see much of Ira, Marmo, Bel, or Regina lately at all. Marmo may still be kind of forgettable, but I have missed the other three. So, it’s great seeing Bel again! Bel tells Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura that even though the duo claimed to be so much better at destroying worlds, they’ve failed over and over. He says that King Jikochuu/Mercenare won’t be happy with their lack of competence. Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura aren’t upset at all, though. They claim to have just been getting started, and now they plan to show off their real power. Gula says they were just warming up so they don’t get cramps; Gura says that they’ve been softening the Glitter Force up until they’re ready to perform their real attack. Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura have sent dark orbs around Oogai/Sea Shell Bay, the town in which Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force lives. In the sub, it’s silent when we first see one flying around; in the dub, Riva says that they’ve been thinking too small by only infecting one human per fight. Well, duh! Anyway, the dark orb enters a man and causes him to faint. No Jikochuu/Distain ensues just yet, but a crowd of onlookers does check to see that he’s alright. Meanwhile, the orb lodges in the man’s Psyche/heart, causing cracks of darkness to appear. We get the opening themes. Then, we cut to Arisu/Clara’s mansion, where the main characters and Sebastian have gathered to see how the Crystal Mirror works. In the sub, Mana knocks on the mirror and Rikka says it’s not a door, and when Mana holds it up to her ear, Rikka says it’s not a phone. In the dub, Rachel still says the Crystal Mirror isn’t a phone when Maya holds it to her ear, but when Maya knocks on it, Rachel instead says it isn’t a portal. This makes no sense because of the portals we’ve seen so far in the season, none have been activated by knocking on them. Aguri/Natalie says that whatever the Crystal Mirror’s powers are, they’ll be crucial in defeating King Jikochuu/Mercenare because the Crystal Mirror is the same sort of legendary weapon as the princess’s Miracle Dragon Glaive/Spear of Light. But the team is still stumped. Makoto/Mackenzie (and Rachel too, in the dub) note that it doesn’t even work as an ordinary mirror; even though its surface is shiny, it doesn’t reflect anything. Arisu/Clara then comes up with a plan: her super-expensive, high-tech house! She presses a button on a remote, summoning a gigantic scanner. The table with the Crystal Mirror on it moves itself into the scanner. As this happens, the dub adds dialogue where Rachel asks what Clara is doing. Unfortunately, even the best technology the Yotsuba family has to offer can’t tell what the heck the Crystal Mirror is supposed to be. But Arisu/Clara has some more scientific plans up her sleeve. Arisu suggests that they test how the mirror resists a temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius, or the pressure at the ocean floor; Clara plans to see if the mirror is fireproof or how far underwater it can go before it cracks. Rikka/Rachel stops Arisu/Clara from pressing the remote button to perform those tasks. Instead, she suggests using Ai/Dina’s magic baby powers to awaken the Crystal Mirror. But not even the living deus ex machina that is Ai/Dina can do anything at all to the mirror. In the sub, Aguri laments that they finally have such a valuable weapon and they don’t even know how to use it; in the dub, Natalie says that maybe the Crystal Mirror will show its powers when they need it most. Then, Mana/Maya’s stomach rumbles. Mana asks if anyone wants something to eat; Maya says that it must be lunchtime. We get the title card in the sub. Then, we cut to Mana/Maya’s house, where our main characters are stopping for a bite to eat. Rikka/Rachel’s mom is also there because she’s on break. However, Aguri/Natalie is hesitant to step in. With everything that’s at stake, she doesn’t have much of an appetite. Just then, Aguri/Natalie’s grandmother arrives and invites the Aida family to her next tea ceremony. She also stops by for lunch. With her and Sebastian there, pretty much everyone gets to eat with their family. Even Aguri/Natalie is dragged in. The cheery mood doesn’t last long. There’s soon a news report on the TV saying that healthy people all over Oogai/Sea Shell Bay are falling unconscious and won’t wake up. In the sub, the news report has a watermark on the bottom right that reads, “Yotsuba News”. This watermark is removed in the dub. Here’s one shot that provides an example of this: DDPC31 11 japanese news 1.png|Yotsuba News DDPC31 12 english news 1.png We, the audience, can see that these mass comas are being caused by the black orbs that Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura invented. As the girls are watching the news report, some of these orbs are flying into the Aida household. Only Ai/Dina can sense them, and Aguri/Natalie can’t tell why she’s crying. Eventually, the orbs enter the bodies of the reporter on screen as well as the person filming her, so the news transmission cuts back to the man at the desk of the news studio. Right after this, he gets orbed, too, and the transmission is lost. Japanese text behind the man is removed, but oddly, the clover symbol on the watermark is kept. DDPC31 13 japanese news 2.png|Yotsuba Rale (the rest is obscured) Yotsuba News DDPC31 14 english news 2.png It turns out that the news people weren’t the only ones who got orbed. The girls turn around to find that everybody who isn’t a warrior or fairy/pixie has fallen unconscious as well. This scene is pretty creepy in the sub, but the dub’s atmosphere is kind of ruined by one of the people snoring. Can’t scare the kids, huh? The girls and fairies/pixies try to wake up their friends and family, but to no avail. Sebastian manages to stay awake for a bit, but he isn’t able to say much before he, too, passes out. In the sub, Sebastian starts to mention some dark objects; in the dub, Sebastian says that this is probably the Mercenares’ doing. Then, Mana/Maya is also struck by an orb. Fortunately, her Cure Lovies/Glitter Charm glows, causing the orb to break before it affects her. Leva/Riva’s face then appears on the TV (I guess the Mercenares are master hackers). Dialogue is added where Maya shouts Riva’s name in anger. Well, it’s supposed to be anger, but Maya sounds so calm that she might as well just be inviting him to a party or something. Anyway, while Leva tells Pretty Cure to come and get him (in English, for some reason), Riva pretends to continue the news transmission (for some reason). The entire group gets into Arisu/Clara’s car and drives through town trying to find the source of this calamity. While they’re driving, Leva/Riva tells the girls about his and Gula/Gura’s plan. Since we aren’t hearing his monologue at the moment it’s being spoken, it isn’t clear if he actually is saying this before the team left via the TV or after the team left and confronted him directly. Anyway, Leva/Riva says that these orbs are from a special tree they planted. In the sub, they’re seeds; in the dub, they’re spores. Each seed/spore has embedded itself in a person’s Psyche/heart, causing that person to fall unconscious. Eventually, all of the seeds/spores will sprout, causing an army of Jikochuu/Distains to appear and wreak havoc on the town. Additionally, the burst of Janergy/dark energy will be great enough to immediately revive King Jikochuu/Mercenare. Once the team arrives, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura say that the girls are powerless to stop their plan. But as always, Mana/Maya is determined to at least give it a try. All of the girls except Aguri/Natalie transform, and you know this fight is gonna be serious because they barely show any of the group transformation sequence. Aguri/Natalie is about to transform too, but Rikka/Rachel tells her to wait until later so she doesn’t use up her five minutes. Another reason you know this fight is gonna be serious is because Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura pull their last card out of their sleeves: transforming themselves into a single Jikochuu/Distain. In the sub, Leva and Gula grunt and Cure Diamond shouts that they combined; in the dub, Riva and Gura shout, “Distain!” and Glitter Heart says that they combined again, even though Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura have never combined before. Sure, they’ve combined their powers, but they haven’t themselves combined. Anyway, the Jikochuu/Distain tries to slam Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force. A shot of Heart looking up at the descending Jikochuu/Distain is darkened. DDPC31 15 cure heart.png|Cure Heart: "Ah!" DDPC31 16 glitter heart.png|Glitter Heart: "Ah!" The Jikochuu/Distain slams into the ground, but the girls dodge. Then, in a well-animated fight sequence, Heart and Rosetta/Clover punch and kick at the Jikochuu/Distain, which then punches them away. In the dub, dialogue is added where Glitter Heart says she thinks she and Glitter Clover can beat Riva and Gura and Gura simply retorts, “Wrong!” Sword/Spade and Diamond then attack using Sparkle Sword and Diamond Shower at the same time. As the Jikochuu/Distain is frozen and stabbed at, dialogue is added where Riva and Gura repeatedly say, “Ow!” (It doesn’t sound as lame as I just made it sound.) However, the Jikochuu/Distain quickly shrugs off the attack like it was nothing. The group then uses Lovely Force Arrow/Togetherness Power Arrow. Of course, since this is a big, serious fight, the attack doesn’t work; the Jikochuu/Distain simply eats it. In the sub, Gula and Leva announce that it’s their turn to attack; in the dub, Gura says that the attack tasted like chicken and that he needed it. As the Jikochuu/Distain starts glowing, Aguri/Natalie decides that now’s the time for her to come in. In the sub, Aguri just decides when Ai tells her, “Kyupi!”; in the dub, dialogue is added where Natalie asks Dina if she should go in now, which causes Dina to respond with a wordless baby noise. Ace uses the purple version of Ace Shot on the Jikochuu/Distain, who shoot back their own giant laser that overpowers it. This is darkened. DD24 44 japanese ace shot 2.png DD24 45 english ace shot 2.png DDPC31 17 japanese beams 1.png|Leva and Gula: *roar* DDPC31 18 english beams 1.png|Gura: *roars* DD24 46 japanese ace shot 3.png DD24 47 english ace shot 3.png DDPC31 19 japanese beams 2.png DDPC31 20 english beams 2.png DDPC31 21 japanese beams 3.png|Cure Ace: "Haaaaaahh!!" DDPC31 22 english beams 3.png|Glitter Ace: "Haaaaaahh!!" DDPC31 23 japanese beams 4.png|Gula: *roars* DDPC31 24 english beams 4.png|Gura: *roars* DDPC31 25 japanese beams 5.png|Gula: *grunts* DDPC31 26 english beams 5.png|Gura: *grunts* DDPC31 27 japanese beams 6.png DDPC31 28 english beams 6.png DDPC31 29 japanese beams 7.png|Cure Ace: *gasps* DDPC31 30 english beams 7.png|Glitter Ace: *gasps* Also, right before the beams collide, a shot of the Jikochuu’s beam is cut, probably because the beam pulsates rapidly. DDPC31 31 cut beam.png The Jikochuu/Distain’s beam creates a giant explosion that obliterates the scenery and knocks Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force over. Fortunately, Ace holds Ai/Dina close to her and manages to keep the baby from getting hurt. Unfortunately, the group somehow lost the Crystal Mirror (which the sub calls the Lovely Pad again for some reason), and Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura now have it. As the Jikochuu/Distain walks up to the girls, the two villains are silent in the sub. In the dub, they both laugh evilly. Right in front of the girls’ eyes, the Jikochuu/Distain crushes the legendary mirror, much to the warriors’ horror. As they do this, dialogue is added where Riva and Gura say, “Crunch!” Then, right after Heart stares at the broken legendary weapon in shock, we get the eyecatches in the sub. Way to ruin the mood. We cut back to the scene, where Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura mock the Crystal Mirror for being even more useless than it was before. Then, Heart starts collecting the pieces of the mirror. Gula/Gura asks why Heart’s so attached to the broken piece of junk, and Heart says it’s not junk because it still holds Melan/Mora’s feelings. Ace then leaps back into battle. We get more darkening. Because the animation is so quick, the screenshots don’t match exactly. Also, the sub footage is really blurry at points. DDPC31 32 cure ace 1.png|Cure Ace: "Pretty Cure's Five Vows! First! A Pretty Cure must always hold her head high and persevere!" DDPC31 33 glitter ace 1.png|Glitter Ace: "Rule number one of the Glitter Force! Keep moving forward, no matter the pain..." DDPC31 34 cure ace 2.png|Cure Ace: "Even without the Lovely Pad..." DDPC31 35 glitter ace 2.png|Glitter Ace: "...or the obstacles put in your way! Never despair!" DDPC31 36 cure ace 3.png|Cure Ace: "...we shall never lose to the likes of you!" DDPC31 37 glitter ace 3.png|Glitter Ace: "And never give up!" DDPC31 38 cure ace 4.png DDPC31 39 glitter ace 4.png DDPC31 40 cure ace 5.png|Cure Ace: *gasps* DDPC31 41 glitter ace 5.png|Glitter Ace: *gasps* Unfortunately, Ace runs out of time and de-transforms, even though it hasn’t been five minutes in video time. In the sub, Aguri’s transformation sequence begins at 9:01, and she de-transforms at 11:42. Even including the eyecatches, which last 13 seconds, Aguri has only been transformed for 2 minutes and 41 seconds. Hopefully Aguri’s transformation device is still under warranty, because it seems to be breaking down. Sword/Space and Diamond catch Aguri/Natalie, but they’re knocked down when they catch her. The Jikochuu/Distain takes the opportunity to fire a laser at them. Rosetta/Clover blocks it and cancels it with Rosetta/Clover Reflection, but the laser still breaks her shield and causes her to fall over in exhaustion. During this sequence, the dub adds quite a bit of dialogue. When Riva and Gura fire the laser, Riva says that Rule #2 is that the Glitter Force will say bye-bye (in response to Ace invoking Rule #1 of the Glitter Force while punching them out a few seconds earlier). And when Clover Reflection begins to break, Glitter Diamond shouts, “Your shield!” and Riva asks, “What shield?” Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura are perfectly capable of finishing the girls off right then and there. But the seeds/spores they planted will sprout any minute now, and they don’t want them to miss the end of the world. As the Jikochuu/Distain jumps into the sky, Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force can do nothing but watch in silence. In the dub, Glitter Diamond tells Glitter Clover that they’ll think of something, but she doesn’t seem so sure. Even Heart is in tears at this point. She apologizes to Sword/Spade (and in the sub, to Sharuru as well) and says she never really understood how it felt for Sword/Spade to lose her entire kingdom until now. Now that she realizes there’s nothing she can do, she completely bursts into tears. While the other girls stare in shock at the most cheerful of the bunch having been thrown into such despair, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura mock her for crying like a baby. We then get a long montage of all of the people around town being unconscious. Even Jun Saotome from episode 12 is shown in both versions even though he never appeared in the dub until now. In the sub, this montage has no dialogue; in the dub, it’s completely narrated over by Glitter Heart, who thinks about how her friends, family, and everyone she’s known will be gone. Then, Heart slaps herself in the face really hard and completely cheers up, saying that she’s done being sad and is now ready to fight back. This is believable in the sub since she’s been silent for about half a minute. But in the dub, we go straight from Heart being in despair to her getting back up to fight. Even though the Crystal Mirror is broken and the world’s about to end, Heart still thinks they stand at least a bit of a chance. She reasons that if Aguri/Natalie found such strong feelings inside her that she could transform into the adult Cure/Glitter Ace, then they can all find a similar power. In the sub, Aguri asks if they can really become that powerful in such a short amount of time, and Cure Heart says that it’s possible because they’re not alone and they all want to save everyone. In the dub, Natalie asks if Glitter Heart wants her to become even older and Heart says that she wants them to become stronger and that they all have powers somewhere inside of them, just waiting to be unlocked. Cure Diamond says that Heart has always been asking the impossible but that she’s pushing it right now; Glitter Diamond says that they may have already leveled up as far as they can. But Rosetta/Clover and Sword/Spade still want to give things their best shot. It’s weird because Sword/Spade is usually the most pessimistic of the group, but here she’s acting really cheerful in the face of seeing the apocalypse for the second time. Heart says that they also have the Crystal Mirror, which still contains Melan/Mora’s feelings for them, and that they shouldn’t let those feelings go unanswered. Except, for some reason, Glitter Heart calls Mora Marmo. Oops… All five of the girls join hands. Cure Diamond says that since Leva and Gula said that this is their final plan, they must be running out of options, too; Glitter Diamond says that every time things seem to turn for the worse, they always get a new power, and that this time shouldn’t be any different. In the sub, Cure Rosetta and Cure Sword say that as long as they have each other, they’ll be able to keep the Earth from going down like the Trump Kingdom did. In the dub, Glitter Clover and Glitter Spade say that they just have to remember what they’re fighting for: the fate of two worlds. Aguri/Natalie joins in, too, and says that she’s amazed that Heart has taught her how to be a better warrior. Aguri says that they’ve all leveled up; Natalie says that they’ve all taught her what it means to be a legendary Glitter warrior. The girls then recite the five oaths of Pretty Cure/rules of the Glitter Force. It seems like in the sub, it’s all of the Pretty Cures who can’t count, because they each say “First!” before reciting their vow. Heart then comes up with a sixth oath/rule. In the sub, it’s that anything is possible if they work together; in the dub, it’s to never fight on an empty stomach if you can help it. All cheered up, the group steps forward to challenge Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura again. Heart tells them that they’re still willing to fight to save their world. In the sub, Leva says that Pretty Cure doesn’t know when to quit and Gula says that they’ll destroy the girls right then and there. In the dub, Riva says that the Glitter Force has gotten too warmed up and Gura says that they’re toast. The Jikochuu/Distain blows a huge gust of wind at the girls, but they stand their ground. In the sub, Cure Diamond and Cure Rosetta say that even if they can destroy the world, they can’t destroy their will to protect it. In the dub, Glitter Diamond recoils at the stench of the wind and wonders what Riva and Gura were eating, and Glitter Clover says that they’ll never win even if they ate anchovies and garlic before battle. The two villains then launch a beam at the four transformed warriors, which they all block. Heart and Sword/Spade say that no matter what the duo throws at them, they’ll give them all they’ve got. In the sub, Aguri and Cure Heart (and all five near the end) say that as long as their hearts beat and race, they won’t give up; in the dub, Natalie and Glitter Heart (and later all five) say that the Gliter Force has one weapon that Riva and Gura don’t have: doki doki. The girls’ determination causes a mysterious pink heart to beat. Then, a giant, rainbow-colored column of light appears. Oh, and remember how the Crystal Mirror broke? I forgot to tell you that it broke into exactly five pieces. And each piece now glows and floats in front of a different warrior. Sharuru says that she feels a tremendous power; Kippie says that something awesome is about to happen. Then, each mirror shard transforms into a fancy, pad-like device. Aguri says that the Lovely Pad responded to their heartbeats; Natalie says that their doki doki caused the Crystal Mirror to transform. Suddenly, Aguri/Natalie’s pad causes her to glow red and then transform back into Cure/Glitter Ace. Cure Ace thanks the Lovely Pad; Glitter Ace tells the girls to try using the devices as well. For some reason, each of the five girls says their transformation catchphrase even though they’re already transformed. The dub implies that it’s because they re-transformed for some reason with the pad’s power, but it still just seems like filler because Toei Animation was too lazy to animate a few more seconds of fighting. But we do get a little bit of new footage. See, we’ve never seen all five warriors transform together. So, whenever the original four girls do their group pose, Ace isn’t included. But now that all five did their individual transformations, it means that they all do a new group pose together for some reason. In the sub, when all of them put their hands together, they spin around really quickly as we zoom in on them. In the dub, the spinning is removed and we just zoom in. Here’s the cut footage (not that you can see the spinning in a still image): DDPC31 42 cut group pose.png|Pretty Cure: "Resonate, heartbeat of love!" Oh, and here’s the new group pose, in case you were wondering. Look at Rosetta/Clover being an airplane! DDPC31 43 new group pose.png After Heart does her catchphrase, Ai/Dina shoots five new Cure Lovies/Glitter Charms out of her bib. In the dub, dialogue is added where Glitter Heart says, “Oh! New Charms!” Despite the girls getting a brand new fancy power, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura still jump in without any fear. I wonder why they didn’t try slamming the group earlier, before they could make use of the fancy new pads they got? Anyway, it’s time for a brand new group attack. This is the first attack in Doki Doki! Pretty Cure where all five warriors work together. And… there’s a problem with the new attack. See, it’s supposed to be a group attack, but it’s really more of a Heart attack. (No pun intended.) Name Change: In the sub, the new attack is called Lovely Straight Flush. In the dub, it’s called Five-of-a-Kind Glitter Bow. Each of the warriors puts her new Glitter Charm into her pad, causing each pad to have cards come out of it. In the dub, Glitter Heart says, “Insert Love Charm!” when putting her Glitter Charm in, and “Yeah!” when her pad starts glowing, and all five girls say, “Glitter Shuffle!” when the cards come out. And this is where it starts to become a Heart attack. Each of the non-Heart warriors sends a card out to Heart with their symbol on it. Diamond’s card has a diamond on it, Rosetta/Clover’s has a clover, Sword/Spade’s has a spade, and Ace’s has an A. In the sub, the girls say, “We send our power to Cure Heart!” In the dub, they each shout their name. Heart then receives all of the other girls’ cards and draws a heart over them. The dub adds dialogue where Glitter Heart says, “Looks like a winning hand to me!” Then, all five cards merge into one, and Heart shouts the attack name as she sends the card, along with a rainbow laser, flying at the Jikochuu/Distain. The card-launching is darkened. DDPC31 44 lovely straight flush 1.png|Cure Heart: "Pretty Cure..." DDPC31 45 five of a kind glitter bow 1.png|Glitter Heart: "Glitter Force..." DDPC31 46 lovely straight flush 2.png|Cure Heart: "...Lovely Straight Flush!" DDPC31 47 five of a kind glitter bow 2.png|Glitter Heart: "Five-of-a-Kind Glitter Bow!" DDPC31 48 lovely straight flush 3.png DDPC31 49 five of a kind glitter bow 3.png DDPC31 50 lovely straight flush 4.png DDPC31 51 five of a kind glitter bow 4.png|Glitter Heart: "Hiyah!" DDPC31 52 lovely straight flush 5.png DDPC31 53 five of a kind glitter bow 5.png DDPC31 54 lovely straight flush 6.png DDPC31 55 five of a kind glitter bow 6.png|Riva and Gura: "Ah!!" DDPC31 56 lovely straight flush 7.png|Leva and Gula: *scream* DDPC31 57 five of a kind glitter bow 7.png|Riva and Gura: "Drat! And we were so close!" It should also be noted that in the dub, the close-up of the card right after Heart launches it is shortened a lot. Also, when the card turns into the bow symbol, it transforms suddenly in a blast of red light in the sub. In the dub, the flash is removed and the card transforms more gradually. Here’s the cut flash: DDPC31 58 cut lovely straight flush.png When the beam hits the Jikochuu/Distain, Leva and Gula scream in pain, while Riva and Gura simultaneously say, “Drat! And we were so close!” The beam somehow also causes the evil tree to disappear and all of the Psyches/hearts in town to be purified, even though it doesn’t hit anywhere close to the latter. So, this attack is one of the many reasons why some people consider Heart to be a Mary Sue. And even though I still like Heart, I guess she is kind of one. While it is refreshing to see a pink Cure who is actually competent in civilian life, and we do see Mana/Maya causing others problems by overworking herself, she still has hogged the screen time a bit. Back at the beginning of the show, she finished off every single fight with either My Sweet Heart/Let Your Heart Light Shine or Heart Shoot/Shot. And when the team finally got a group attack, the Regina arc started and the other three girls were shoved to the sidelines in favor of Regina and Mana/Maya becoming friends. When Ace came in, things did become more even, but Heart still did get to say her catchphrase almost every episode. But then we got to the fight with Melan/Mora, and Heart was the only one who really earned the Crystal Mirror. There is definitely a problem here. And though I won’t say it ruins the show, I do hope it doesn’t get to be a bigger problem. I like Mana/Maya, but I want the others to get time to shine, too. Even though the show has focused a bit too much on Mana/Maya the whole time, this new attack is the most glaring example of it. Seriously, whose idea was this? Did nobody object to Pretty Cure, a show all about working together as a team and never giving up, giving us a “group” attack where everyone but Heart got shoved aside? I think somebody did eventually, because Lovely Straight Flush/Five of a Kind Glitter Bow is the only fake group attack in the entire franchise. Every other group attack at least has all of the characters in it saying the attack name together. Even this attack gets an upgrade later on where everyone says the attack name together. Anyway, as the sky goes back to normal and everyone wakes up, Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force watches and smiles. The dub adds dialogue where Glitter Clover celebrates Sea Shell Bay returning to normal and Glitter Heart says, “Yeah.” Back at home, all of the girls join together with their families to eat omelets that Mana/Maya’s family served. Aguri/Natalie is tearing up because she’s so happy to be eating with everyone. Mana/Maya agrees with her. Mana says that she always took it for granted, but eating with everyone really is the best thing ever. Maya says that food always tastes better when you eat it with others, especially if it’s named after her. The dub also adds dialogue where Maya says that for dessert, they’ll be having “Apple Pie à la Maya”, which will also be delicious. We pan away from the Aida family’s house and then cut to the Jikochuu/Mercenare hideout. Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura teleport back to the hideout, no longer in their Jikochuu/Distain form. They’re angry, and Leva/Riva vows to slaughter the girls the next chance he gets. Unfortunately for them, they won’t have a second chance. Because Bel kills them. Right on screen. It’s not gory or anything, but Bel sucks up all of their Janergy/dark energy into his lollipop and eats it. Without their energy, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura’s corpses disintegrate. And that’s the end of that. Overall: This episode was flawed, but still enjoyable. Aside from the new attack that I talked about earlier, we didn’t get any explanation as to why Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura needed a magic tree to do what Ira, Marmo, and Bel had done all by themselves in the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius. I guess I’ll have to assume that the villains just can’t extract that many Psyches/hearts at a time when King Jikochuu/Mercenare is dormant. But it really would be nice if we got an explicit explanation. Still, the fighting was good this episode. We had a bigger threat than Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force had ever faced up to this point, and they still managed to take it down just by refusing to give up. For this, the episode was still fun to watch. Plus, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura dying means that we get more screen time for Ira, Marmo, and Bel. Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura weren’t bad, but they only had two personality traits between them: their implied romantic relationship and Gula/Gura eating a lot. Plus, the two took up a lot of screen time, leaving the other villains to languish. I get that it was because they only had less than 10 episodes to shine, but it was still a shame. Though Marmo is still the worst Jikochuu/Mercenare, I’m excited to see what Ira, Bel, and Regina have to offer now that they can take the spotlight again. Next time: The girls have trouble setting up the school’s cultural festival when Mana falls ill! Category:Blog posts